Spanish consumption woes continue

Spain's cement consumption fell two per cent YoY to 967,790t in June, according to the latest data from Oficemen, the country's cement association.

The latest set of figures brings the total for the 1H14 to 5.2Mt, indicating a market contraction of 3.2 per cent over the same period of 2013. Isidoro Miranda, chairman, and Aniceto Zaragoza, CEO of Oficemen, have said they expect the year to close with a domestic demand of 10.4Mt and have called it "the worst year for the industry in half a century." Mr Miranda said that Spain's market is down 81 per cent since 2007 but recognised that the consumption level at the time was "unrealistic".

The association stressed that the construction sector remains below par. Oficemen said that the association expects the construction of 45,000 homes when a typical annual level should hover around the 200,000 mark.